The Small Town City

THE SMALL TOWN CITY

Lucy Taylor

MArch + UP

THE SMALL TOWN CITY

Lucy Taylor MArch + UP

Design Research Project AR50007

5468 Words

Tutor: Carol Robertson

Student ID: 180005444

A Design Research Project submitted to the School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design At The University of Dundee. April 2024

SMALL TOWN CITY:

A thriving city centre, taking influence from successful small towns.

Abstract

“The city is a manifestation of a particular living culture, of reality” 1

Looking to ‘The Emotional City’, Caruso describes our urban surroundings as a result of our personal, cultural sensitivities. How the development of cities is not always owed to the top down enforcement of those in power. Cities are a result of the inhabitants within, and their emotions towards it. When focusing upon the City of Dundee - whose centre is regressing, both economically and in terms of population, with vast undesirable vacancies across the high street – a correlation can begin to appear between the living culture of the town centre and the trajectory of the city surrounding them. Dundee City Centre’s reality

A low-density population of around 3,400 people2, the City Centre makes up only two percent of Dundee’s entire population. This is comparable to the scale of a small Scottish town such as Portree on Skye or Callander in Stirling. The majority of this inner city area is made up of a transient collection of short-term rental properties, which largely stand in poor condition. Over the summer months, a void in Dundee is created by the depletion of students; an absence in residence and departure of liveliness.

The ‘death of the high street’ and increasing growth of ‘suburban sprawl’ are phrases all too familiar within our current urban environment. Scottish City Centre living is becoming more undesirable than ever. Why is it, that small towns are thriving while cities are dying?

This research project seeks to answer the question:

How can failing City Centres learn from successful small towns?

The works of Alexander, Gehl, Lynch and Sennett will lead the study of themes including liveliness, transience, identity, and synchronicity, directing analysis of specific towns and cities and applying these findings to the City of Dundee.

The outcome will show itself in the form of The Small Town City: a framework distilled through research from those who know their city best, bringing vibrancy back to the heart of these fading cities.

with

Figure 1. ( Front Cover) Small Town City Masterplan showing new found activity and amenity within the ring road.

Figure 2. (Above) Dundee City Centre’s built density when layered

the town of Callander, Stirling.

Figure 3. (Next Page) Dundee aerial view highlighting the ring road.

1. Adam Caruso. “The Emotional City.” Essay vol. 228. (Barcelona: Quaderns, 2001), 8-13.

2. Dundee City Council, Dundee City Centre Strategic Investment Plan 2050 (Dundee City Council, 2023).

DUNDEE CITY CENTRE

When the text refers to the ‘City Centre’, it is referring to the area within the ring road of Dundee.

Figure 4. The Patchwork City group model demonstrating each member of the unit’s individual proposals as darns, patches and stitches, at a city wide scale.

Foreword - Group Context

The Patchwork City

As a precursor to the individual design research projects, the MArch + Urban Planning Unit uncovered an overarching theme, ‘The Patchwork City’ that would coincide with our focus on Urban Rooms. An Urban Room is a concept developed by Sir Terry Farrell, defining it as a space that incorporates exhibition, education and community allowing for the future improvement of a city3. From this, an analysis into the history and forms of an Urban Room was undertaken to understand how they function, as well as their scale, location, method of funding and typology.

This work sought to act as a baseline for our design research projects, allowing us to produce a cohesive future strategy for Dundee’s City Centre. ‘The Patchwork City’ seeks to encapsulate the existing character of Dundee as a former textiles powerhouse, allowing for our proposed interventions to act as an ode to its past, offering what we interpret as necessary interpositions, utilising the four pillars of social value: community, sustainability, wellbeing, and diversity. The strategy seeks to treat the city as a metaphorical quilt, mending the urban fabric with darns, patches and stitches, applying appropriate interventions to ensure the betterment of the City Centre’s continuing development.

Darning:

The activity of mending a hole in the city’s fabric through light, tactical intervention.

Patching:

The mending of the city’s fabric with a patch, strengthening the urban realm through heavy intervention.

Stitching:

The action of threading a needle through the city’s fabric to reconnect.

The Small Town City acts as a ‘patch’ within ‘The Patchwork City’, overlaying heavy intervention upon Seagate, strengthening the urban realm and surrounding City Centre through the developed framework.

The supporting documents ‘The Patchwork City’ and ‘What is an Urban Room?’ provide further information with regards to the group context of the MArch + UP Unit.

3. Terry Farrell, Review of Architecture and the Built Environment, The Farrell Review, 2012.

Figure 5. Development of the group strategy in studio.

Figure 6. The Patchwork City group strategy drawing.

Abstract

Foreword - Group Context

Chapter 1

Introduction

Chapter

Chapter

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

How can thriving small towns influence failing City Centres to form a new community?

When asked, where might you find a tight-knit community: a small town, or a big city? The answer seems obvious. The rural nature of contained towns provides an organic framework for neighbourhoods to form. Community life is safe and familiar, where locals take pride in their home and respect their neighbours4. How can this kind of neighbourhood be created in a City Centre? Where in most cases, residents don’t even know their neighbour’s first name. Looking to Dundee, this appears to be the case.5 There is a complete absence in residence, and in turn, community.

Making up only two per cent of the city population, Dundee City Centre’s inhabitants are decreasing. Despite plans to double the City Centre residents6 as set out in the Dundee City Centre Strategic Investment Plan 2050 (DCCSIP), Dundee will continually struggle to increase density. A framework for a neighbourhood to be organically formed is essential in the success of supporting new residents. In David Sim’s, ‘Soft City’, he states, “neighbourhood is not a place; it’s a state of mind”7, a positive residential relationship between the dwellers, their neighbours, and their city. The amenities required to assist density must come from the people themselves, provisions they both want and need. As Sim suggests, “proximity in an urban environment is made possible by common resources” 8, proximity being a fundamental requirement in the development of liveable density. Does the creation of common resources follow density, or the other way around? Each are reliant upon the other to succeed in producing a new neighbourhood.

Figure 7. Commercial Street is one of the most badly affected by vacancies, both residential and commercial.

4. Great Britain. Urban Task Force and Richard George Rogers, Towards an Urban Renaissance (London: Routledge, 1999). 5, 6. Dundee City Council, Dundee City Centre Strategic Investment Plan 2050.

David Sim, Soft City (Washington D.C.: Island Press, 2019), 11.

Sim, Soft City, 12.

Figure 8. Public park liveliness in the evening in Cheltenham, one of the English towns analysed in the catalogue.

To foster the concept of The Small Town City, we can start by looking to the works of Christopher Alexander. ‘A Pattern Language’ states many rules of how to build a successful neighbourhood, one of which being that “people need an identifiable spatial unit to belong to” 9, identity playing a large part in the concept of feeling ‘at home’ with a sense of belonging, an essential driver in the creation of community. Alexander also speaks of liveliness, describing cities as places which shape the events which take place there, “a pattern of events cannot be separated from the space where it occurs” 10, another theme integral to the formation of a new neighbourhood.

As well as both liveliness and identity, transience must be considered in the development of The Small Town City. A natural part of this dual university city, temporary residents are integral to the future of Dundee, with one in five of every resident being a student11. Gehl writes of transience in Copenhagen, and the vitality it brings, commenting that students, though only temporary, make intensive use of their cities12 and that “any city with lots of students in the City Centre is quite fortunate.”13 This characteristic is one in which Dundee has in abundance, The Small Town City must hone the transience it possesses within the introduction of density.

A proposal will be developed, exploring the parameters in which a new community within the existing city can be born from. A proposal which views failing City Centres, such as Dundee, as their own small town with all the energy and pride that a thriving community may contain. Creating a ‘synchronised city’14 as opposed to a sequential one, where residents have a distinct and identifiable ‘home’, as Alexander suggests. Using the themes of liveliness, transience, identity, and synchronicity, all woven throughout a catalogue of towns and cities, as well as within a physical Urban Room, will form the answer the research question. What can successfully create a Small Town City?

12, 13. Jan Gehl and Lars Gemzoe, Public Spaces Public Life: Copenhagen 1996 (Copenhagen: The Danish Architectural Press, 1995), 38. 14. Richard Sennett, Building and Dwelling: Ethics for the City (London: Penguin Books, 2017), 206.

Figure 9. Christopher Alexander’s diagram of an ‘Identifiable Neighbourhood’, demonstrating gateways, boundaries, proximity, major roads and the central public space which marks these communities.

9. Christopher Alexander, A Pattern Language (New York: Oxford University Press, 1977), 81. 10. Christopher Alexander, The Timeless Way of Building (New York : Oxford University Press, 1979), 73. 11. Invest in Dundee, “Student Population Ratio”, Invest in Dundee, n.d., https://www. investindundee.com.

LIVELINESS

CHRISTOPHER ALEXANDER

THE THEMES OF:

TRANSIENCE

JAN GEHL

IDENTITY

KEVIN LYNCH SYNCHRONICITY

WILL DIRECT THE STUDY OF THE:

CATALOGUE OF TOWNS AND CITIES

TO PRODUCE:

RICHARD SENNETT

LIVE URBAN ROOM PROJECT

THE SMALL TOWN CITY

CHAPTER 2

RESEARCH THEMES

Figure 10. Key Public Spaces in the City Centre, absent of people. Pictured above, Commercial Street.

Figure 11. Murraygate.

Figure 12. McManus Galleries in Albert Square.

Introduction to Research Context

“This is the century of the city!”15 States Ely, as he explains that city living on the increase, with over two thirds of our population set to live in cities by 205016. It is true, that global capitals are growing, ever densifying. However, the smaller cities are becoming left behind17. Vast urban and remote rural areas are so well defined in character, but where do the small cities lie in the spectrum?

“In our rapidly urbanising world, the word neighbour is more relevant than ever. All over the world, cities are not only densifying, but also diversifying… The simplest way to tap into everything society has to offer is to have neighbours, close neighbours.”18

The missing piece of the puzzle within inner city Dundee appears to be the lack of residents. Without people, there are no neighbours, and no community. This is where rural towns can help. The research context of this project will focus upon the key themes from Alexander, Gehl, Lynch and Sennett, alongside research, development, and informed conversations upon the subject of Urban Rooms, and how they can aid the development of community.

Alex Ely, “Towards a Resillient Architecture”, (Edinburgh, 2024).

16. Hannah Ritchie, Veronika Samborska, and Max Roser, “Urbanization”, Our World in Data, February 23, 2024. https://ourworldindata.org/urbanization.

17. Justin Bowie, “Why Is Dundee’s Population Shrinking Faster Than Central Belt Cities?”, The Courier, July 14, 2022,. https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/politics/scottish-politics.

18. Sim, Soft City, 11.

Figure 13. Survey of those who live or work within Dundee City Centre, carried out at the Urban Room.

15.

Figure 14. Lively multi-generational community life in rural Spain, this town was analysed within the catalogue.

In Christopher Alexander’s’ ‘The Timeless Way of Building’ he discusses to what extent towns and cities are alive, or not. These factors which lead to the liveliness of a place are discussed within his rulebook, where he describes that: “the pattern of relationships between workplaces and families helps us to come to life.”19 This intersperse of corporate and family life can be compared to Cedric Price’s ‘City as an Egg’ diagram, summarising the importance of an integrated central core, with superfluous requirement for suburbia. Where activities are synchronous and varied, happening centrally, all at once. As Sennett suggests; mixed use equals mixed people20, making for a vibrant, diversified City Centre.

Liveliness

Figure 15. Cedric Price’s City as an Egg.

Figure 16. Alexander’s ‘patterns which are alive’.

Work + families together Lively

Boiled City Centre + City Walls Ancient Fried City Centre + Expansion 17 - 19th Century

Scrambled Collapsed core, urban sprawl Modern

Central work, surrounding families Not lively

Christopher Alexander

19. Alexander, The Timeless Way of Building, 107. 20. Sennett, Building and Dwelling: Ethics for the City.

The list of instructions within ‘A Pattern Language’ can help to inform the future successes of our built environment. Although written in a past era, Alexander’s rulebook is still relevant in testing the criteria for a lively Small Town City. He writes of community projects forming a ‘necklace’21, stating that “the local town hall will not be an honest part of the community which lives around it, unless it is itself surrounded by all kinds of small community activities and projects, generated by the people for themselves.”22 The historic nature of town planning has always been led with a top-down approach, which Alexander disagrees with. When read alongside Caruso’s work, similarities in opinion emerge. Caruso speaks of places “sustaining the condition of heterogeneity which I believe to be fundamental to the city.” 23 , favouring organic urban development because of its inevitability. Fostering community led initiatives from the beginning, understanding that rigid masterplans fail because the life and diversity of the inhabitants will erode the enforced environment, and shape it to become their own, regardless of what has already been put in place.

“In practice master plans fail… They are too rigid; they cannot easily adapt to the natural and unpredictable changes that inevitably arise in the life of a community.”24

Cities respond to the repeated events which take place, resultantly sculpted into the form of such activities, “every place is given its character by certain patterns of events that keep on happening there.” 25 Alexander writes of the organic shape our cities may form over time, as a result of the life within. In line with Gehl’s views26, if no activity happens, then the city will not change, “we can come alive only to the extent the buildings and towns we live in are alive.” 27 A series of repeated events, no matter how insignificant they may appear, are all essential in the future of our built environment, whether the residents of a city realise this or not. People play a critical role in forming the future of their place - that’s why City Centre density is essential in the success of The Small Town City.

21.

22.

23.

24. Christopher Alexander, Kelvin Campbell, Making Massive Small Change (Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 2018), 38.

25. Alexander, The Timeless Way of Building, 55.

26. Jan Gehl, Life Between Buildings: Using Public Space, 2011.

27. Alexander, The Timeless Way of Building, 62.

Figure 17. Alexander’s necklace of community activity: “As the activities grow around the space, it becomes more lively.”

Alexander, A Pattern Language, 242.

Alexander, A Pattern Language, 243.

Caruso, The Emotional City, 8–13.

Figure 18. The weekly market in Leith, bringing the community together in support of local businesses.

Transience

Although metropolitan residents are ever increasing, City Centres are typically made up of a minute proportion of the population, despite its assumed desirability. Gehl comments that “city living is still considered attractive and is much sought after by the many people who enjoy the vitality and diversity of life in the heart of the city.” 28 This attraction can be applied to global cities of any scale – from the developed Danish City of Aarhus to the Australian metropolis of Melbourne. In Jan Gehl’s, ‘Public Spaces Public Life: Copenhagen’ he discusses the benefits of a populated City Centre; “residents contribute to the vitality of the city at all times of the day and night.”29 The activity of dwellers daily life which continues into the evening, with the warm glow of apartment windows lighting up the streets at night, positively contributes to the city, making passers-by feel safe after-hours, never allowing the city to be in darkness.

Inner city residents can often be transient, this can be owed to large portions of students, in which Gehl states that; “no single factor has more influence on the vitality of City Centres than the presence of universities and students in the area.”30 This transient demographic largely contributes to the liveliness of a city, especially in Dundee. However, this population fluctuates over the course of the year, with a large number of students leaving the city over the summer months. This shrinking population is apparent during a time tourists would typically flock to cities31 . A balance is required within Dundee, to level the gap left by students as they come and go. An increase in tourism in the summer, as noted in the DCCSIP will help, with ambitions to increase visitor numbers via the esteemed UNESCO City of Design title32 However, a constant core of residents is needed in

creating a population with longevity. An increase in density must come with varied demographic: families, young professionals and the elderly must all be catered for in order to support the plentiful, yet transient, population.

Students may be a key factor towards City Centre success; however, this is not enough. Sennett states, “To have people ‘take ownership’ of their communities, you have to build something worth owning.”33 Nonetheless, transient residents can form relationships within their communities – there simply has to be the framework in place to allow these connections to happen. The West End of Dundee leads by example34, with a resilient community accommodating young transience. The City Centre must learn from this, establishing a place which suits multiple generations, allowing all kinds of people, transient or not, to come together and take pride in their surroundings, forming strong foundations for long term relationships. Ownership and personal investment in their shared urbanisation.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/west-end-dundee.

Jan Gehl

28, 29. Gehl and Gemzoe, Public Spaces Public Life: Copenhagen 1996, 36.

30. Gehl and Gemzoe, Public Spaces Public Life: Copenhagen 1996, 38.

31. Gehl and Gemzoe, Public Spaces Public Life: Copenhagen 1996

32. Dundee City Council, Dundee City Centre Strategic Investment Plan 2050, 4.

33. Sennett, Building and Dwelling: Ethics for the City, 172.

34. Gabriella Bennett, “West End in Dundee Named Best Place to Live in Scotland 2024”, The Sunday Times, March 15, 2024.

Figure 19. Magdalen Green in the West End of Dundee brings together the diverse, active community.

Figure 20. The two universities Dundee is home to, in proximity to the City Centre.

Abertay University

University of Dundee

Figure 21. Imageability study of activity within the ring road of Dundee City Centre, from memory. Blank spaces represent places which hold no place in memory, absent of personal recollection.

When thinking of home, we reflect on so much more than the physical, built elements. These forms are simply allowing the events in our home to take place. This is similar of urban spaces, Alexander writes that; “we know that what matters in a building or town is not its outward shape, its physical geometry alone, but the events that happen there.” 35 He reminds us that when thinking of a place, the familiar activity that goes on there is considered in our recollection. This is akin to Lynch’s idea of imageability - imagining a place that you have been and building up a picture based upon memory. “Nothing is experienced by itself, but always in relation to its surroundings, the sequences of events leading up to it, the memory of past experiences.” 36 As Lynch denotes, the combination of environment and memory form the image of the city in our minds eye, a personal recollection of past experience.

“The observer – with great adaptability and in the light of his own purposes – selects, organises, and endows with meaning what he sees.”37

Turning to Dundee, we seek to uncover the identity of its City Centre – what it is, and what it’s trying to become. The waterfront has been undergoing enormous redevelopment, with a thirty year plan38 to entirely change the face of Dundee for the better. This masterplan is intended to support the City Centre; however the waterfront has since formed a clear identity of its own, omitting the historic parts of the city, such as the Caird Hall and McManus galleries from its identifiable characteristics, including the newly built V&A Museum which sits alongside the RRS Discovery. This unintentional disconnect has been addressed by Dundee through its DCCSIP39, with goals to connect the city as a whole once more, forming an overarching, unified identity.

With density, comes identity.

Identity

When considering David Sim’s concept of a ‘Soft City’, with its low-rise, high-density qualities, we learn that; “local urban identity is often stronger and perhaps more relevant than national, cultural or ethnic identity.” 40 Dundee provides the ideal canvas for a Soft City, low rise and self-contained. However, the local urban identity is weakening. The City Centre lacks the community required to form such metropolitan distinctiveness. A familiarity that areas of the city, including the newly developed waterfront and historic West End, so clearly have. As the waterfront redevelopment has proven, the perspective which a place is viewed can constantly change based on the people, surroundings, and activity – or liveliness - that is experienced. The Small Town City can be created by forming what Kevin Campbell describes as “the single most important unit of social, cultural and local development.”41: a new, recognisable neighbourhood.

Kevin Lynch

35. Alexander, The Timeless Way of Building, 65.

36. Kevin Lynch, The Image of the City (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1960), 1.

37. Lynch, The Image of the City, 6.

38. Dundee Waterfront, “About the Waterfront”, Dundee Waterfront, December 20, 2023. https:// www.dundeewaterfront.com/about/.

39. Dundee City Council, Dundee City Centre Strategic Investment Plan 2050.

40. Sim, Soft City, 12.

41. Campbell, Making Massive Small Change, 22.

22. Dundee City Centre as it stands, void of community with the surrounding areas clearly defined.

DCCSIP PROPOSED

Figure

Figure 23. The DCCSIP proposes the integration of the successfully defined surrounding areas into the City Centre.

SMALL TOWN CITY PROPOSED

Figure 24. What would Dundee look like if the City Centre formed a new identity for itself? The Small Town City aims to do just that. By challenging the intentions of the Dundee City Centre Strategic Investment Plan 2050 and forming a new identifiable community in an area previously vacant of one.

Dundee City Centre

Synchronicity

Public activity within cities can be grouped into two categories: synchronous and sequential space. In simple terms, the former is when many different types of activity are taking place at once. The latter is when lots of people are taking part in the same activity, at the same time. In his works ‘Building and Dwelling: Ethics for the City’, Sennett speaks of open forms, comparing synchronous and sequential space to either a bazaar or a theatre, a market or a stadium. In our cities, synchronous space is favourable, making for a bustling, exciting metropolis. On the other hand, sequential space can be divisive, separating the activity from the spectator with no encouragement of overlap. He writes of three rules of “designing synchronicity” 42; the first, to have a maximum of four different activities happening at once. The second, is that these activities must be vastly differing in both task and demographic. Finally, that these activities pose an invitation, not a demand, for people to mix; “in public-space design, we need strategies to draw people in.” 43 These rules of synchronicity, once coordinated, can result in busier, more active public space, where a community can blossom naturally.

When applied to the place-making of today, Sennett’s argument is more valid than ever. He comments upon designing spaces, “if it is to be truly synchronous, a space must offer people something they cannot easily access elsewhere.” 44 This can be directly compared to the ‘15 Minute City’ 45 concept, an idea which has taken off in Europe46 through having a public centre with all necessary amenities and activities within easy access, where there is no need for the car - this can lead to synchronicity. Bringing the people of a city together, creating overlap within the public realm forming new relationships between residents.

Synchronous space is key to urbanism globally, as Sennett states; “cities are constantly in need of repair.”47 Regardless of density, built environment, location as well as liveliness, transience, and identity – cities must at the most basic level, create ways of organically bringing people together. Whether this shows itself through the attraction of temporary tourists or the residency of permanent dwellers, varying activity can bring people who would not usually mix, together. This can spark new connections, forming the neighbourhood essential to Dundee City Centre, an area previously vacant of community.

hy Has the ‘15-minute City’ Taken off in Paris but Become a Controversial Idea in the UK?”, The Guardian, April 6, 2024. https://www.theguardian.com/cities.

Figure 25. To assemble = synchronous space.

Richard Sennett

42-44. Sennett, Building and Dwelling: Ethics for the City, 211.

45. Carlos Moreno et al., “Introducing the ‘15-Minute City’: Sustainability, Resilience and Place Identity in Future Post-Pandemic Cities”, Smart Cities, January 8, 2021. https://doi.org.

46. Helena Horton, “W

47. Sennett, Building and Dwelling: Ethics for the City, 287.

48. Sennett, Building and Dwelling: Ethics for the City, 206.

SYNCHRONOUS SPACE:

One of Sennett’s Open Forms; “people packed together do many different things at the same time… different things happening at the same time need a principle of coordination” 48

The Farrell Centre

With these research themes in mind, our attention can move to the concept of an Urban Room. An essential tool in the bottom up planning approaches necessary for the future of towns and cities today. In recent conversation with Owen Hopkins, the director of The Farrell Centre – Newcastle’s new Centre for Architecture and the Built Environment - he talks of his experience with Urban Rooms and the importance of these spaces within communities. With regards to the future design of the built environment, he feels traditional consultations from architects and planners alike “can be quite off-putting, potentially quite alienating – counterproductive actually.” 49 These approaches have historically always followed a top down approach, excluding those who have or will live there. An Urban Room tries to do the opposite, bringing the public opinion to the forefront of the planning process. By creating an experimental space, which “explores architecture in oblique ways” 50, an Urban Room can encourage participation from all, allowing residents to share their thoughts and ideas upon their home, contributing to the bottom-up led future of their place.

Having recently visited The Farrell Centre, Hopkin’s words can be seen in practice:

• The space is welcoming and fun

• Flexible and adaptable for all kinds of user

• “When there are events on, it really comes to life!” 51

• Noise, mess, and any kind of creativity is encouraged - relevant to the built environment or not

• Urban rooms must not mimic a museum

• The space must be free, accessible, fully tangible and hands on

Urban Room Concept

The research context of an Urban Room is relevant within the creation of The Small Town City as a primary means of gathering ideas and solutions to the problems in which Dundee City Centre faces. Creating new resolutions for the future of the city, from the people of the city.

Figure 26. (Opposite) The Farrell Centre.

Figure 27. (Above) Fun ways of exploring city plans at The Farrell Centre.

49. Owen Hopkins, Teams Call, 2024.

50. Hopkins, Teams Call.

51. Caitlin Carter, The Farrell Centre, 2024.

Conclusion of Research Context

All the aforementioned urbanists, architects and theorists have formed a well-rounded interpretation of City Centre success, or reasons which may have contributed to the failure of such towns and cities. The themes of liveliness, transience, identity, and synchronicity can be found globally, and benefit locally. The Small Town City must take reference from these urban drivers and utilise them in practice. This leads us to the method: looking to towns and cities, as well as the opinions of residents within, and asking – what makes a Small Town City? What does this look like?

Figure 28. Model designed to test the arrangement of typology and amenity within a new neighbourhood.

CHAPTER 3

THE SMALL TOWN CITY

The Catalogue

Taking the research context into account, a ‘Catalogue of Towns and Cities’ has been created. Through figure ground mapping exercises, various towns and city centres were drawn up, and distilled down to the amenities within them. Alongside the inventory of resources, each town or city has been comparatively analysed in terms of the four main themes. Each place has a relevance to Dundee, this may be due to its population, density, strong community, or its geographical location being within a ring road or other defined boundary. Another reason for the analysis of certain places, is a town or city that has undergone redevelopment and formed a new identity for the better. These mapped towns and cities have mostly been from a personal experience, alongside supporting research.

Including towns and cities which have been personally lived in is a key move in the formation of the catalogue. As Urban Rooms are focused upon resident’s personal relation and experiences of a place, so too is the catalogue, weaving in first hand experiences – paying reference to small towns and big cities globally. The outcome has resulted in a distilled analysis of these chosen places, considering the essential amenities which have woven together to form a successful community centric neighbourhood.

Figure 29. The Catalogue of Towns and Cities.

CATALOGUE OF TOWNS AND CITIES

The Small Town City Lucy Taylor MArch + UP

The supporting document ‘Catalogue of Towns and Cities’ can be read alongside this design research project text.

The Small Town City

Figure 30. Figure ground maps of the chosen towns in pink and cities in blue that have been analysed within the catalogue.

Callander, Scotland

Vic, Catalonia

Copenhagen, Denmark

Melbourne, Australia

Cheltenham, England

Portree, Scotland

Dundee, Scotland

Perth, Scotland

Leith, Scotland

Aarhus, Denmark

Glasgow, Scotland

York, England

CATALOGUE CHECKLIST

REASONS FOR ANALYSIS OF CHOSEN TOWN OR CITY: POPULATION

RING ROAD

WALLED CITY

DENSITY

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

ACTIVE COMMUNITY

REDEVELOPMENT

UNESCO CITY OF DESIGN LIVEABILITY SCALE

AREAS OF ANALYSIS: LIVELINESS

TRANSIENCE

IDENTITY

SYNCHRONICITY

AMENITIES INCLUDE: SCHOOL CHURCH

DOCTOR

PUBLIC SQUARE HOTEL

LIBRARY

SUPERMARKET

PUBLIC GREENSPACE

UNIVERSITY

TOURIST INFORMATION

URBAN ROOM

Figure 31. The reasoning in which each town or city was chosen and the areas of analysis set out, this checklist applies to the English town of Cheltenham.

Figure 32. (Top) Selected extract pages from the catalogue, in this instance comparing Cheltenham as a successful thriving town alongside Dundee to distil the differences in such places despite similar scale and population.

Figure 33. (Above) Dundee’s analysis within the catalogue.

The Small Town City

Urban Room Event

A pivotal moment in the development of The Small Town City, was the temporary Urban Room set up on Castle Street, in the heart of Dundee City Centre. Titled ‘What is an Urban Room?’, this live project enabled the display of our work-in-progress design research proposals, asking open-ended questions in order to gather opinions and ideas first hand from residents of the city, asking what they wish to see in the future of Dundee. The Urban Room was essential in distilling the requirements for a new, successful neighbourhood to be formed in this city, asking questions including: what does Dundee City Centre have, what does it need? As well as asking, what would encourage Dundonians to live in the City Centre?

The feedback received was invaluable, with many comments based around the compact scale of the city – suggesting that this should be celebrated. As well as this, demands for more quality housing, greenspace and community run establishments were all comments frequently made.

By using each set of information gathered from both the Catalogue and Urban Room, alongside the research context previously discussed, the framework in which The Small Town City will be based upon can be created, ready to form a new, vibrant community.

7 Castle Street

Figure 34. (Opposite) Members of the public interacting with models of The Small Town City at the Castle Street Urban Room Event.

Figure 35. (Above) Mock-up drawing of the space on Castle Street after surveying.

Further information regarding the Urban Room on Castle Street can be found in the supporting group document ‘What is an Urban Room?’

Figure 36. Feedback panels from the Urban Room, featuring numerous suggestions of greenspace, high quality housing and recreational activities.

FEEDBACK

125 VISITORS OVER 2 DAYS

ONLY 21% OF VISITORS LIVED IN THE CITY CENTRE

WHAT DOES DUNDEE CITY CENTRE NEED?

“COMMUNITY OWNERSHIP” “MORE RESIDENTS” “IMPROVEMENT OF SEAGATE” “GREEN SPACE”

WHAT WOULD ENCOURAGE YOU TO LIVE IN DUNDEE CITY CENTRE? “COMMUNITY” “BETTER HOUSING OPTIONS” “GREEN SPACES NOT SURROUNDED BY DUAL CARRIAGEWAY!”

30% OF VISITORS WORKED IN THE CITY CENTRE

“ I LIKE DUNDEE CITY CENTRE BECAUSE OF ITS COMPACT SIZE”

WHAT DOES DUNDEE CITY CENTRE HAVE?

“NOT ENOUGH TO CALL IT A CITY”

HOPES FOR THE CITY: “IT CAN RETAIN ITS POPULATION”

FEARS FOR THE CITY: “LOSS OF IDENTITY”

Figure 37. Members of the public engaging with the initial Small Town City Masterplan, contributing their own ideas and opinions.

Findings

The analytical Catalogue and in-person Urban Room event worked together to establish the requirements needed within The Small Town City, at both a city and site-wide scale. The information gathered formed the understanding of what a new neighbourhood needs in order to be successful. These findings have directed the design proposal to become an all-encompassing representation of prosperous towns and cities worldwide, whilst also referencing the wants and needs of Dundee’s current residents.

In order to establish the framework in which a new community can be born from, a site must be established as the testing ground for design. At a macro scale, Dundee City Centre can take on the findings in a more general sense, plotting the city as a checklist for public resources. A smaller scale of site is required to assist the masterplan in further detail. Somewhere in need of redevelopment is essential, in order to pose a real-life examples of what the future of the neighbourhood could look like. By designing upon a specific site, this can in turn demonstrate the broader impact in which a new community can make upon its immediate surrounding area as well as the greater City of Dundee.

Through designing residential density in response to key elements including education, healthcare, family and community resources as well as greenspace ensures that the informed research is fully conveyed within The Small Town City. Crafted specifically to site and city, this combination of collective elements will allow a thriving neighbourhood to form, developing relationships between people and their place.

The conclusions formed within the Catalogue and Urban Room are distilled into the following requirements:

DUNDEE CITY CENTRE NEEDS:

GREEN SPACES

PUBLIC SCHOOLS

HOUSING

FAMILY AMENITIES

COMMUNITY ACTIVITY

HEALTHCARE

The Small Town City: Seagate

“The physical composition of the built environment has the potential to deliver, comfort, convenience and connection to others.”52

Situated on the eastern edge of the City Centre, adjoining the ring-road along East Marketgait is the area of Seagate. This portion of the city is home to a range of typologies – from the impressive red ashlar former Whisky Bonds to the dilapidated sheds along Mary Ann Lane, Seagate is a mixture of both beautiful and unsightly buildings, most of which are falling into disrepair. The primary artery of Seagate is intensively used, with the bus station located along this main road, a fundamental route from the monstrous East Port roundabout. To walk along Seagate is not a pleasant experience, narrow, noisy, and unattractive - this will become one of the main routes to the new Eden Project in the near future. Something must be done to drastically transform this deteriorating part of the City Centre as commuters will frequent the bookends of the site when travelling east-west. This provides an opportunity in which a new high street identity can be formed along Seagate.

This specific site has been chosen as the testing ground for The Small Town City to overlay a metaphorical ‘patch’ onto. As mentioned, the main city bus station can be found here, disconnected from the rest of the city’s landmarks, where the majority of visitors would be headed. Alongside the station is historic Mary Ann Lane, cutting the site in half, featuring largely brownfield area to the west, and poorly maintained sheds and portacabins to the east. An undesirable part of town which poses no wish to pass through, unless through necessity - a site desperate for transformation.

The proposal for Seagate, and framework for The Small Town City includes the integration of three key elements to achieve a context specific design: housing, community amenity and external space. These have been tested upon both the wider city scale, as an

outline master plan for the entire City Centre, and then down to a site specific scale, implementing the framework in more detail upon Seagate, embedding this neighbourhood in the wider context, fruitfully benefiting wider Dundee.

“The City Centre needs to become more diverse and create an inclusive community.” 53

Figure 39. Seagate as it stands, looking East towards the East Port roundabout, with the existing bus station on the south side of this busy road.

Figure 40. Mary Ann Lane looking South, with the existing sheds to the east (left) and the unused site to the west (right).

52. Sim, Soft City, 13. 53. Dundee City Council, Dundee City Centre Strategic Investment Plan 2050.

SEAGATE EMBEDDED WITHIN THE SMALL TOWN CITY

Figure 41. The Seagate proposal in relation to the immediate surroundings of The Small Town City, demonstrating how each amenity within the city can be tied together.

EXITING SITE

Figure 42. Existing Seagate site model.

Bus Station Temporary Office

Brownfield Land Seagate Sheds

Maritime House Brownfield Land

PROPOSED SITE

Figure 43. Earlier stage of design shown in wooden block model of the Seagate Site, identifying the retained buildings from the exiting site as well as perimeter block, central community spaces and public green spaces.

Retained Maritime House

Retrofitted Seagate Sheds

SEAGATE SITE PROPOSAL

SeagateFlats

EastgaitApartments

TradesTownhouses

Figure 44. Seagate site view to the differing typologies, newly reinstated Mary Ann Lane and public space bookends.

Maritime Mews

The Perimeter Block

Housing is a fundamental objective of The Small Town City. It is needed to increase density54 at the most basic level, as well as support the growth of the city through liveliness, forming a new identity. At a city scale, sites have been identified where new neighbourhoods could grow, in three main locations across the city. At a site scale, the housing typology follows the form of a perimeter block, this is in line with the principles of a Soft City55, as well as comparable to the density and proportions of Goldsmith Street56 in Norwich. A reference to the forms found in European examples such as Copenhagen57 and Aarhus, housing will wrap itself around the entire edge of the site, with most of the existing, failing features removed. The Grade B listed Maritime House and the historic brick wall which takes in the sheds running along Mary Ann Lane will be retained, as anchor points to the site.

The terraced blocks running around the edge are home to three typologies of varying density, with the fourth type sat centrally, their built forms responding to the path of the sun. The flats, apartments, town-houses and mews will each cater to a different demographic in line with the multi-generational nature of synchronicity. These terraced forms are a reference to the tenement typology, typical of Dundee, which in turn create enclosure in the contained external space. These residential blocks push the majority of accommodation to the edge of the site,

leaving generous, fully pedestrianised, space within the block, taking reference from the Harbour Housing project in Aarhus.58

Through the varying typologies and demographics, pockets within the site are formed. Town-houses and mews are the lowest density forms found upon this new patch of the city, with these typologies being designed to the needs of families and the elderly. These channels of private housing run parallel to the retained brick wall, re-establishing Mary Ann Lane as the key axis through the site, forming a new pedestrianised ‘high-street’ where life can spill out on to, safe for children to play and activity to thrive.

The northern block of the site will have mixed-use properties, which Gehl speaks of in Copenhagen59 The ground floor level facing Seagate will introduce a curation of independent retail and hospitality opportunities which face onto the main artery of the area. These amenities providing many benefits; space for local business to thrive, new job opportunities as well as a key reason for locals to visit and spend time in this newly established neighbourhood.

56. RIBA, “

Street”, RIBA, 2019. https://www.architecture.com/awards-and-competitions.

57. Sim, Soft City.

58. ADEPT, “Harbour Houses”, 2015. https://www.adept.dk/project/harbor-houses.

59. Gehl and Gemzoe, Public Spaces Public Life: Copenhagen 1996.

DENSITY AREA

Current City Centre Population: Dundee City Council Goal: Small Town City Overall Goal:

Estimate current density: Proposed density on site:

6,800 (double) 10,000 (triple)

32 dwellings/hectare

Within Ring Road: Seagate Site: Number of dwellings on site: Max site population: 3,400

100 dwellings/ hectare

Figure 45. Density score card.

54. Dundee City Council, Dundee City Centre Strategic Investment Plan 2050.

55. Sim, Soft City.

Goldsmith

CASE STUDY: GOLDSMITH STREET

Figure 46. Goldsmith Street in Norwich ensure large distances between housing blocks to allow for street activity between neighbours to take place.

Figure 47. Goldsmith Street masterplan showing channels of greenspace running parallel to the built forms.

CASE STUDY: PERIMETER BLOCK

Figure 48. A perimeter block in Christianshavn, Copenhagen where the large external space contained within is entirely shared.

Figure 49. The perimeter block at the Aarhus Harbour Housing Project with vast shared external space within.

Figure 50. Historic image of the now grade B listed Maritime House on East Dock Street.

Figure 51. Historic view looking towards maritime house and Mary Ann Lane, a clearly defined route through the dense mass of industrial buildings.

SEAGATE

TYPOLOGIES

EASTGAIT APARTMENTS

Figure 52. The four typologies catering to the multigenerational requirements of a diverse neighbourhood.

2: Community at the Heart

“Neighbourhoods need to comprise a mix of uses which work together to encourage formal and informal transactions, sustaining activity throughout the day.”

60

Focusing on a site specific scale, the Seagate plot is currently lacking in character, it has been left in a state with little remaining identity, the exception being Mary Ann Lane. The façade to the sheds, running north-south feel grounded, their stereotomic forms adorned in bright graffiti, with greenery appearing through the dilapidated guttering. At the moment, the lane is facilitating creativity within the city, encouraging the addition of street art.61

These sheds will be retrofitted to house a variety of shared community uses – both enclosed and external spaces will be created, including a laundry, nursery, co-working and shared social space. These will be integrated into the exiting forms, with the addition of some fully glazed roofs, playing with internal and external qualities to generate a diverse mix of shared amenities. All of the chosen facilities have been carefully curated through the catalogue analysis as well as the opinions gathered at the Urban Room, ensuring a necessary array of multi-generational use is accessible to all.

This cluster of resources forms itself at the heart of the perimeter block, ensuring that shared usable facilities are integral to community life within this new found neighbourhood. The main entry points to all community spaces will be accessed from Mary Ann Lane, encouraging footfall along the cobbled high street. Allowing new relationships to form within the surrounding housing typologies.

At the city wide scale, The Small Town City populates Dundee with a host of new amenities and resources which are both essential and wishful. Public schools are required to support new density as the City Centre is vacant of state education at current. Alongside education, medical and child care are also required if The Small Town City is to prove successful and functional.

60. Rogers, Towards an Urban Renaissance, 40. 61. Open Close Dundee, “City Centre”, Open Close Dundee, n.d. https://openclosedundee.co.uk/ city-centre. The Small Town City

Figure 53. Diagram showing the programme within each of the shared community amenity retrofitted sheds.

“NEIGHBOURHOOD IS A STATE OF BEING IN A RELATIONSHIP”

“relationships between people and planet, relationships between people and place, and relationships between people and people.” 62

Figure 54. Mary Ann Lane full of activity spilling out from both the shared amenity filled brick sheds and the new mews houses.

Figure 55. Shared allotments alongside the primary shared public garden makes for varied external space.

Green space is essential in the future of Dundee City Centre. As it stands, there are almost no public parks across the City Centre, with the exception of Slessor Gardens – sandwiched between two increasingly busy roads. External space is integral to the vibrancy of place, it is a prime opportunity for synchronous activity to take place. This has been input into The Small Town City Masterplan, where green spaces are scattered across the City Centre. These take the form of play, sport, growing and recreational areas, suited to all ages of resident within the city.

The unbuilt areas of the Seagate site will be celebrated, as a combination of public and private external spaces. Mary Ann Lane itself has the qualities in place to become an active, public artery. At the north and south end of the site, there are bookends of public activity, one hard landscaped and one soft allowing for a multitude of events to take place. Musical, local business markets, food festivals, and more, can take place on the hard landscaped area, with the soft green space acting as a park for play, sport, barbecues or relaxing within. The linear community channels run between the two, featuring outdoor dining areas, sports courts and shared raised allotments.

3: External Synchronous Space

The analysis of public squares and gardens that was uncovered through the Catalogue of Towns and Cities has proven the essential nature of such spaces. These are the central gathering points in which communities can come together, they “represent the common interests of the neighbours who share ownership.”62 These shared spaces provide generous space for recreation - to spend time whilst not learning or at work. When proportioned correctly, the flexibility of such spaces is infinite.

The varying demographic of residents will also have ownership of some private greenspace, primarily for families and the elderly, these ratios are in line with the rules set by the Accordia development in Cambridge63.

In all cases - city or site-wide, hard or soft landscaped, flexible or set use - shared activity is encouraged. Seamlessly connecting the built forms through public space, contributing to liveliness, identity and synchronicity of The Small Town City.

62. Sim, Soft City, 28. 63. Building Centre, “Accordia, Cambridge”, Building Centre, 2014. https://www.buildingcentre. co.uk/news/articles/accordia-cambridge.

Figure 56. The Accordia Masterplan with vast amounts of greenspace. Described as ‘urban rugs on a carpet of landscape’.

PERIMETER BLOCK

POPULATE SITE

Figure 57. Housing makes up the majority of the perimeter block, with retail and car share spaces at ground floor levels.

Figure 58. The existing Seagate sheds will be retrofitted to form community amenities with a row of mews housing running parallel.

RE-INSTATE MARY ANN LANE PUBLIC SPACE BOOKENDS

Figure 59. The wall of the sheds will continue south, to reinstate the historic Mary Ann Lane, acting as the primary high street of the new neighbourhood.

Figure 60. A combination or hard landscape (north) and soft (south) will act as public bookends to the activity channel running between them, parallel to the mews, lane and sheds. This will contain allotments, a sports court and outdoor dining area.

CHAPTER 4

Figure 61. The Small Town City Wooden Model

Conclusion

Liveliness, Transience, Identity and Synchronicity can all contribute to the way our urban environments operate. These themes are intrinsically linked to the capabilities of our communities, benefitting our towns and cities worldwide. Some of these themes must be catered to through the design of our cities, whilst some are inherent in the fabric of a place. What they share however, is community. Through community comes vibrancy, the identifiable networks of people and organisations coming together through choice, forming independent initiatives that are key to thriving neighbourhoods of any scale. This is the reason top-down enforcement is no longer the future of urbanism, the future of planning has no choice but to involve the people who know their place best. Through analysis of the successes and failures of towns and cities, as well as first-hand community engagement, with both being implemented through design, this research project has answered the question first posed: How can failing city centres learn from successful small towns?

Density and proximity are essential in enabling the overlap of people to happen, these design moves will help form both lively and synchronous spaces which are of upmost importance in diverse cities. The collisions between different types of activity, people, demographic can result in an exciting cityscape, where positive new relationships between residents, spaces and their environments are created and continue on into the future. Neighbours must know each other and look out for their best intentions. The city wide design considerations have catered to these intentions of populating Dundee at its core, using Seagate as the testing patch to stitch into the surrounding urban fabric, encouraging locals to come and stay within the very heart of their constantly evolving city.

Transience poses both opportunity and difficulties in its unavoidable position within Dundee. These fluctuating levels of population can be balanced

through permanence. Residents must take ownership over their spaces and form homely environments to take pride in, no matter how long they reside. This can be achieved by quality city-making, providing “something worth owning”64. Tourism is another key factor in maintaining a steady population year-round. City activity must be constant and open to all – local or newcomer - to participate within.

This research project has unpacked the reasoning behind the success of small towns and applied this understanding to the testing site of Dundee City Centre. Small but thriving, quiet yet lively, these towns are the identifiable places where connections are at their strongest. By providing cities with a framework in place – made up of a network of housing neighbourhoods, community amenities and shared external spaces - The Small Town City can grow, creating a system which everyone can contribute to, having the opportunity to make change in their local area. These mixed typologies intertwining with a network of shared spaces, allows residents both convenience as well as the ability to invest trust in their neighbours. Resulting in opportunity for higher density through the development into co-living in the future.

The Small Town City puts the population back at the heart of Dundee, sparking connections between people, activity, and spaces. This forms a diverse, desirable centre, encouraging the population to condense rather than sprawl, creating an improved quality of life. Small city centres are dying –particularly in Scotland - The Small Town City challenges this narrative, creating a desirable urban environment shared by all.

64. Sennett, Building and Dwelling: Ethics for the City, 172.

Figure 62. The Small Town City Wooden Model

Reference List

Alexander, Christopher. A Pattern Language. New York : Oxford University Press, 1977.

Alexander, Christopher. The Timeless Way of Building. New York : Oxford University Press, 1979.

Bennett, Gabriella. “West End in Dundee Named Best Place to Live in Scotland 2024.” The Sunday Times. March 15, 2024. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/west-end-dundee-best-place-to-live-scotland-uk2024-5s9bqj3mt.

Bowie, Justin. “Why Is Dundee’s Population Shrinking Faster Than Central Belt Cities?” The Courier. July 14, 2022. https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/politics/scottish-politics/3490354/rural-tayside-popu lation-dundee-pandemic/#:~:text=Dundee%20has%20recorded%20the%20joint,city%20between%20 2020%20and%202021.

Building Centre. “Accordia, Cambridge.” Building Centre. 2014. https://www.buildingcentre.co.uk/news/ articles/accordia-cambridge.

Campbell, Kelvin. Making Massive Small Change: Building the Urban Society We Want. Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 2018.

Carmona, Matthew, Tim Heath, Taner Oc, and Steve Tiesdell. Public Places - Urban Spaces. London: Routledge, 2012.

Carters, Caitlin. The Farrell Centre. Visit. 2024. The Farrell Centre. Newcastle.

Caruso, Adam. “The Emotional City.” Essay vol. 228: 8-13. Barcelona: Quaderns, 2001.

Dundee City Council. Dundee City Centre Strategic Investment Plan 2050. Dundee City Council, 2023.

Dundee Waterfront. “About the Waterfront.” Dundee Waterfront. December 20, 2023. https://www. dundeewaterfront.com/about/.

Ely, Alex. “Towards a Resillient Architecture.” Lecture. 2022. Edinburgh.

Farrell, Terry. “Review of Architecture and the Built Environment.” The Farrell Review, 2012. Force, Great Britain. Urban Task, and Richard George Rogers. Towards an Urban Renaissance. London: Routledge, 1999.

Gehl, Jan. Cities for People. Washington D.C.: Island Press, 2013.

Gehl, Jan. Life Between Buildings: Using Public Space. Skive: Danish Architectural Press, 2011.

Gehl, Jan, and Lars Gemzoe. Public Spaces Public Life: Copenhagen 1996. Copenhagen: The Danish Architectural Press, 1995.

Hopkins, Owen. Teams Call. Call. 2024.

Horton, Helena. “Why Has the ‘15-minute City’ Taken off in Paris but Become a Controversial Idea in the UK?” The Guardian. April 6, 2024. https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2024/apr/06/why-has-15minute-city-taken-off-paris-toxic-idea-uk-carlos-moreno.

Invest in Dundee. “Student Population Ratio.” Invest in Dundee, n.d. https://www.investindundee.com/ human-capital/student-population-ratio#:~:text=Dundee%20%20has%20Scotland%E2%80%99s%20 highest%20student,highest%20ratios%20in%20the%20UK.

Lynch, Kevin. The Image of the City. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1960.

Moreno, Carlos, Zaheer Allam, Didier Chabaud, Catherine Le Gall, and Florent Pratlong. “Introducing the ‘15-Minute City’: Sustainability, Resilience and Place Identity in Future Post-Pandemic Cities.” Smart Cities. January 8, 2021. https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities4010006.

Open Close Dundee. “City Centre.” Open Close Dundee, n.d. https://openclosedundee.co.uk/city-centre.

RIBA. “Goldsmith Street.” RIBA, 2019. https://www.architecture.com/awards-and-competitions-landing-page/ awards/riba-regional-awards/riba-east-award-winners/2019/goldsmith-street.

Ritchie, Hannah, Veronika Samborska, and Max Roser. “Urbanization.” Our World in Data, February 23, 2024. https://ourworldindata.org/urbanization#:~:text=Across%20all%20countries%2C%20urban%20 shares,from%2054%25%20in%202016).

Sennett, Richard. Building and Dwelling: Ethics for the City. London: Penguin Books, 2017.

Sim, David. Soft City. Washington D.C.: Island Press, 2019.

Bibliography

ADEPT. “Harbour Houses” ADEPT, 2015. https://www.adept.dk/project/harbor-houses.

Alexander, Christopher. A Pattern Language. New York : Oxford University Press, 1977.

Alexander, Christopher. The Timeless Way of Building. New York : Oxford University Press, 1979.

Ball, P. Critical mass : how one thing leads to another. New York: Farrar, Strauss, and Giraux, 2006.

Bennett, Gabriella. “West End in Dundee Named Best Place to Live in Scotland 2024.” The Sunday Times. March 15, 2024. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/west-end-dundee-best-place-to-live-scotland-uk2024-5s9bqj3mt.

Bowie, Justin. “Why Is Dundee’s Population Shrinking Faster Than Central Belt Cities?” The Courier. July 14, 2022. https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/politics/scottish-politics/3490354/rural-tayside-popu lation-dundee-pandemic/#:~:text=Dundee%20has%20recorded%20the%20joint,city%20between%20 2020%20and%202021.

Brenner, Neil, and Keil, R. The Global Cities Reader. London: Routledge, 2000.

Building Centre. “Accordia, Cambridge.” Building Centre, 2014. https://www.buildingcentre.co.uk/news/a rticles/accordia-cambridge.

Campbell, Kelvin. Making Massive Small Change: Building the Urban Society We Want. Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 2018.

Carmona, Matthew, Tim Heath, Taner Oc, and Steve Tiesdell. Public Places - Urban Spaces. London: Routledge, 2012.

Carters, Caitlin. The Farrell Centre. Visit. 2024. The Farrell Centre. Newcastle.

Caruso, Adam. “The Emotional City.” Essay vol. 228: 8-13 Barcelona: Quaderns, 2001.

Chey, Katy. Multi-Unit Housing in Urban Cities: From 1800 to Present Day. London: Routledge, 2017.

Dundee City Council. Dundee City Centre Strategic Investment Plan 2050. Dundee City Council, 2023.

Dundee Waterfront. “About the Waterfront.” Dundee Waterfront. December 20, 2023. https://www. dundeewaterfront.com/about/.

Ely, Alex. “Towards a Resillient Architecture.” Lecture. 2022. Edinburgh.

Farrell, Terry. “Review of Architecture and the Built Environment.” The Farrell Review, 2012.

Force, Great Britain. Urban Task, and Richard George Rogers. Towards an Urban Renaissance. London: Routledge, 1999.

Gehl, Jan. Cities for People. Washington D.C.: Island Press, 2013.

Gehl, Jan. Life Between Buildings: Using Public Space. Skive: Danish Architectural Press, 2011.

Gehl, Jan, and Lars Gemzoe. Public Spaces Public Life: Copenhagen 1996. Copenhagen: The Danish Architectural Press, 1995.

Hopkins, Owen. Teams Call. Call. 2024.

Horton, Helena. “Why Has the ‘15-minute City’ Taken off in Paris but Become a Controversial Idea in the UK?” The Guardian. April 6, 2024. https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2024/apr/06/why-has-15minute-city-taken-off-paris-toxic-idea-uk-carlos-moreno.

Invest in Dundee. “Student Population Ratio.” Invest in Dundee, n.d. https://www.investindundee.com/ human-capital/student-population-ratio#:~:text=Dundee%20%20has%20Scotland%E2%80%99s%20 highest%20student,highest%20ratios%20in%20the%20UK.

Keys, Mike, and Laslett, Stephanie. Dwelling: Accordia. London: Black Dog, 2009.

Landry, Charles. The Creative City: a toolkit for urban innovators. London: Earthscan, 2000.

Lynch, Kevin. The Image of the City. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1960.

Mae. Towards a Resilient Architecture. Lucerne: Quart, 2022.

Marcus, C.Cooper. and Sarkissian, Wendy. Housing as if people mattered : site design guidelines for medium density family housing. University of California Press, 1986.

Moreno, Carlos, Zaheer Allam, Didier Chabaud, Catherine Le Gall, and Florent Pratlong. “Introducing the ‘15-Minute City’: Sustainability, Resilience and Place Identity in Future Post-Pandemic Cities.” Smart Cities. January 8, 2021. https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities4010006.

Open Close Dundee. “City Centre.” Open Close Dundee, n.d. https://openclosedundee.co.uk/city-centre.

RIBA. “Goldsmith Street.” RIBA, 2019. https://www.architecture.com/awards-and-competitions-landing-page/ awards/riba-regional-awards/riba-east-award-winners/2019/goldsmith-street.

Ritchie, Hannah, Veronika Samborska, and Max Roser. “Urbanization.” Our World in Data. February 23, 2024. https://ourworldindata.org/urbanization#:~:text=Across%20all%20countries%2C%20urban%20 shares,from%2054%25%20in%202016).

Schittich, Christian. Housing for People of All Ages: flexible, unrestricted, senior-friendly. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2013.

Schwartz, B. The paradox of choice : why more is less. New York: Ecco, 2004.

Sennett, Richard. Building and Dwelling: Ethics for the City. London: Penguin Books, 2017.

Sim, David. Soft City. Washington D.C.: Island Press, 2019.

Stimmann, Hans. Construction and Design Manual: Townhouses. Berlin: DOM Publishers, 2011.

Turner, J.F.C. Housing by people towards autonomy in building environments. London: Marion Boyars,1976.

Ward, C. The child in the city. London: Architectural Press, 1978.

Wright, F.L. When Democracy Builds. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1945.

Figures

Figure 1. (Front Cover) Author’s Own. Small Town City Masterplan. Drawing. March 2024.

Figure 2. Author’s Own. Dundee City Centre’s built density layered with Callander. Collage. November 2023.

Figure 3. Google Earth. Dundee aerial view. Photograph. April 2024. https://earth.google.com/ web/

Figure 4. Author’s Own. The Patchwork City group model. Photograph. March 2024.

Figure 5. Author’s Own. Development of the group strategy in studio. Photograph. December 2023.

Figure 6. MArch + UP Unit. The Patchwork City group strategy drawing. Drawing. April 2024.

Figure 7. Author’s Own. Commercial Street. Photograph. November 2023.

Figure 8. Author’s Own. Cheltenham. Photograph. August 2021.

Figure 9. Alexander, Christopher. Identifiable Neighbourhood. 1977. In Christopher Alexander, A Pattern Language. Oxford University Press, 1977.

Figure 10. Author’s Own. Commercial Street. Photograph. November 2023.

Figure 11. Author’s Own. Murraygate. Photograph. November 2023.

Figure 12. Author’s Own. McManus Galleries. Photograph. November 2023.

Figure 13. Author’s Own. Sticker Survey. Scan. March 2024.

Figure 14. Author’s Own. Vic, Spain. Photograph. July 2023.

Figure 15. Price, Cedric. City as an Egg. Drawing. 1982

Figure 16. Alexander, Christopher. Patterns which are alive. 1979. In Christopher Alexander, The Timeless Way of Building, 107. New York : Oxford University Press, 1979.

Figure 17. Alexander, Christopher. Necklace of community activity. 1977. In Christopher Alexander, A Pattern Language, 601 New York: Oxford University Press, 1977.

Figure 18. Indagare. ‘Leith Market’. Photograph. Indagare. 2023. https://indagare.com/ destinations/europe/scotland/edinburgh/activities/leith-market

Figure 19. Author’s Own. Magdalen Green. Photograph. June 2023.

Figure 20. Author’s Own. Dundee’s Universities. Drawing. April 2024.

Figure 21. Author’s Own. Dundee Imageability Study. Drawing. December 2023.

Figure 22. Dundee City Council. Strategic Ambition Existing. Diagram. June 2022. In Dundee City Council, Dundee City Centre Strategic Investment Plan 2050, 13. Dundee City Council. 2022.

Figure 23. Dundee City Council. Strategic Ambition Proposed. Diagram. June 2022. In Dundee City Council, Dundee City Centre Strategic Investment Plan 2050, 13. Dundee City Council. 2022.

Figure 24. Author’s Own. The Small Town City Proposal on Dundee City Centre. Diagram. April 2024.

Figure 25. Gehl, Jan. To assemble. 2013. In Jan Gehl, Cities for People. Washington D.C. Island Press, 2013.

Figure 26. Author’s Own. The Farrell Centre. Photograph. 2024.

Figure 27. Author’s Own. The Farrell Centre. Photograph. 2024.

Figure 28. Author’s Own. Interactive Model. Photograph. March 2024.

Figure 29. Author’s Own. Catalogue of Towns and Cities. Front Cover. April 2024.

Figure 30. Author’s Own. Figure Ground Studies of Towns and Cities. Drawing. January 2024.

Figure 31. Author’s Own. Cheltenham Checklist. Table. April 2024.

Figure 32. Author’s Own. Cheltenham Catalogue Pages. In Lucy Taylor, Catalogue of Towns and Cities. 2023.

Figure 33. Author’s Own. Dundee Catalogue Pages. In Lucy Taylor, Catalogue of Towns and Cities. 2023.

Figure 34. Author’s Own. Urban Room Interaction. Photograph. March 2024.

Figure 35. Author’s Own. 7 Castle Street Mock Up. Drawing. February 2024.

Figure 36. Author’s Own. Urban Room Feedback Panels. Scan. March 2024.

Figure 37. Author’s Own. Urban Room Interaction. Photograph. March 2024.

Figure 38. Author’s Own. The Small Town City Masterplan. Drawing. March 2024.

Figure 39. Author’s Own. Seagate. Photograph. January 2024.

Figure 40. Author’s Own. Mary Ann Lane. Photograph. January 2024.

Figure 41. Author’s Own. Seagate Embedded Within The Small Town City. Drawing. April 2024.

Figure 42. Author’s Own. Existing Seagate Site. Model. February 2024.

Figure 43. Author’s Own. Proposed Seagate Site. Model. February 2024.

Figure 44. Author’s Own. Proposed Seagate Axonometric. Drawing. April 2024.

Figure 45. Author’s Own. Density Score Card. Table. March 2024.

Figure 46. Mikhail Riches. Goldsmith Street Section. Drawing. Mikhail Riches. 2019. https:// www.mikhailriches.com/project/goldsmith-street/

Figure 47. Mikhail Riches. Goldsmith Street Masterplan. Drawing. Mikhail Riches. 2019. https://www.mikhailriches.com/project/goldsmith-street/

Figure 48. Sim, David. A perimeter block in Christianshavn. 2019. In David Sim, Soft City, 29. Washington D.C.: Island Press, 2019.

Figure 49. Adept. Harbour Housing Site Plan. Drawing. Adept. 2015. https://adept.dk/ project/harbor-houses

Figure 50. Dundee Central Library. Historic image of Maritime House. Photograph. Dundee Central Library. 2003. https://www.leisureandculturedundee.com/sites/default/ files/wc1261.jpg

Figure 51. Leisure and Culture Dundee. Historic view looking towards Mary Ann Lane Photograph. Leisure and Culture Dundee. N.d. https://www.leisureandculturedundee. com/sites/default/files/wc1261.jpg

Figure 52. Author’s Own. Typologies. Drawing. April 2024.

Figure 53. Author’s Own. Public spaces upon the site. Drawing. April 2024.

Figure 54. Author’s Own. Mary Ann Lane Activity. Drawing. April 2024.

Figure 55. Author’s Own. Green Space Activity. Drawing. April 2024.

Figure 56. Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios. The Accordia Masterplan. Sketch. Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios. 208. https://fcbstudios.com/projects/accordia/

Figure 57. Author’s Own. Perimeter Block. Diagram. April 2024.

Figure 58. Author’s Own. Populate Site. Diagram. April 2024.

Figure 59. Author’s Own. Re-instate Mary Ann Lane. Diagram. April 2024.

Figure 60. Author’s Own. Public Space Bookends. Diagram. April 2024.

Figure 61. Author’s Own. The Small Town City Wooden Model. Photograph. April 2024.

Figure 62. Author’s Own. The Small Town City Wooden Model. Photograph. April 2024.

Supporting documents including the unit publications; ‘The Patchwork City ’ and ‘What is an Urban Room?’ as well as the individually produced ‘Catalogue of Towns and Cities’ can be found both attached and as physical printed copies to be read alongside this document.

Lucy Taylor MArch + UP

THE SMALL TOWN CITY